| Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. |
| —Psalm 1:1 |
Sin works subtly to trap us. In the verse from Psalm 1:1 at the beginning of this blog post, we can already see that walking in the wrong counsel will lead to standing with those who lead us there, and then to sitting among those who mock and despise God’s truth. We need vigilance to overcome the enticements that come from our fallen nature and from the enemy of our souls.
At the end of Judge Samuel’s life, King Saul became the ill-advised leader of Israel. His coronation came against the counsel of God’s prophet, and led to years of bad leadership. However, Saul himself fell into the deadly progression of sin that, according to Romans 6:23, in the end leads to death.
Saul’s story begins in 1 Samuel 9, with the documentation of his confirmation as king. His reign began innocently enough. Saul’s sin started to overtake him when he became impatient. He tried to please his men when they expected him to present a burnt offering. This kind of self-motivation led Saul to oppressive and foolish leadership, in which he required his men to fast during battle! (1 Samuel 24).
When Saul’s army defeated the Amalekites, as God had commanded in 1 Samuel 15, he clearly disobeyed God by not destroying everything. He then progressed downward to the sins of pride and arrogance by building a monument to himself. He stepped even further down into sin by lying to Samuel and blaming his soldiers.
As Saul’s story moves through the next 40 years, one bad decision after another marked his reign. Once David entered the picture, Saul’s sin went from jealousy of David to attempts at murder, unholy schemes, and to assigning his murderous plans to others. King Saul became obsessed with the narcissistic murder of David, finally delving into the counsel of witchcraft. Where does all this end? It ends with death, of course. King Saul committed suicide on the battlefield when war with the Philistines went badly. 1 Samuel 31:6 describes this horrible end:
So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearers and all his men died together that same day.
I like the way author Beth Moore sums up King Saul’s story: 1
How does a man who is the people’s choice lose a kingdom? Saul provides a sad object lesson. All his life he focused on himself instead of his God. Therefore, he feared public opinion; he would not trust God but rather had to feel he was in control. He disobeyed, because obedience requires the trust and humility he did not possess.
Saul. The first king of Israel. The people’s choice. Not an accident waiting for a place to happen but a train wreck mangling the lives of others. Sad but true. A head taller but a heart shorter.
We find it easy to read a story like this one and not to realize that we could fall into the same pattern as King Saul: from a revered leader to a murderous crazy person. We must ask God to make us aware of any downward steps we take. Perhaps God will warn us when we, like Saul, begin to fall into sin by trying to please ourselves and others, rather than pleasing God.
Whatever our weaknesses, we can rest assured that our enemy, Satan, will tempt us to sin. Satan will strive to lead us into a downward progression that, in the end, will lead to destruction. May the Lord, deliver us!
| 1 Moore, Beth. Portraits of Devotion. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Publishing, 2014. p. 21. Please note that, in each case, whenever the citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder. |
